Farm Service Agency Funded Project

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Assisting Minority Land Owners and Limited Resource Producers in Alabama

This is a state-wide project whose primary goal is to conduct innovative outreach training and provide technicalassistance to limited resource and underserved agricultural producers in Alabama. The target audience comprises small and limited-resource farms often operated by women, African-Americans, Hispanics, Asians, and other socially disadvantaged individuals. The project’s specific objectives are to:

develop educational materials and modules in English and Spanish, and provide specialized training in key areas of direct marketing, alternative enterprises, value-added agriculture, and enterprise diversification as a means of managing risk, enhancing farm profitability, and improving the decision making capacity of limited resource and underserved producers;

assisting improving community food systems, strengthening food networks, encouraging group marketing opportunities for farmers and local purchasers, and providing training in cooperative marketing as a means of coping with risk and enhancing farm income and profitability;

provide specialized educational training and technical assistance in key areas of computers and recordkeeping, farm financial analysis, business planning, estate planning and retirement security to ensure a secure retirement future and to enhance the decision makingcapacityoflimitedresourcefarmers;and

initiate a series of projects which focus on and promote farmer involvement and farmer-to-farmer learning, enhance farm profitability, and encourage adoption of improved technologies. The innovative able to select one that best meet their individual need in order to enhance and sustain farm profitability.